Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

A study by scientists at Aberystwyth University’s IBERS working with Wales YFC reveals that rumen fluke (Calicophoron daubneyi) is now prevalent on Welsh farms. Funded by Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and an Owen Price Scholarship in conjunction with Wales YFC, the study is published today in the journal Parasitology. See link - Rumen fluke (Calicophoron daubneyi) on Welsh farms: prevalence, risk factors and observations on co-infection with Fasciola hepatica The research was undertaken by scientists at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) working in partnership with young farmers in Wales to identify rumen fluke prevalence levels and associated risk factors across Wales. Rumen fluke was previously regarded as a rare parasite, but is now an emerging problem in the UK and information on its prevalence in Wales has been very scarce to date. The similar parasite liver fluke is one of the biggest problems facing the UK livestock industry, estimated to co...

The award-winning BEACON Wales project is one of five established R&D centres across the UK announcing a new alliance today - BioPilotsUK. This alliance will seek to position Britain as a global leader in biorefining technology development and bio-based product manufacture – two key elements of the bioeconomy. The founding centres are BEACON (Wales), the Biorenewables Development Centre (BDC - York), the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI - Redcar), IBioIC (Scotland) and The Biorefinery Centre (Norwich). BEACON is a Welsh Government EU funded collaboration led by Aberystwyth University working with Bangor and Swansea Universities where scientists specialise in bio-refining. BioPilotsUK brings together the nation’s leading expertise and facilities to help innovative ideas navigate the so called “valley of death” by demonstrating new bio-based processes and products at a commercially-relevant scale, in turn helping clients invest in the right technologies to grow their businesses....

Scientists at Aberystwyth University’s IBERS are well known for their research into agricultural animals and plants, but now a team of young researchers at the Institute are embarking on a new project to evaluate how a parasite which can affect giant pandas responds to anti-parasitic drugs. Dr Russ Morphew and PhD student Cat Pye are working with Iain Valentine of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), the conservation charity that owns and manages RZSS Edinburgh Zoo, with links to Chinese research centres, on a three year project to identify how the parasite responds to anti–parasitic drugs and, more specifically, whether drug resistance is the cause of repeat infections in captive giant panda populations. Dr Morphew said: “We hope that our findings will not only help to inform conservation strategies in captivity and across China’s giant panda reserves, but also that they could lead to improved control strategies to deal with infection in the future.” The project has been...

The lucky discovery of four-leaf clovers in the sub-arctic could prove valuable to future plant breeding research. Students in IBERS (Insitute of Environmental and Rural Sciences) in Aberystwyth made some lucky discoveries on a recent fieldtrip to the village of Abisko in the Swedish Lapland to study Arctic Ecology. In addition to seeing several Arctic-alpine plant species the students also found several red clover plants (Trifolium pratense L.). These were growing in disturbed areas near paths, houses and the rail road. On closer examination of the area, the students made the exciting discovery that a surprising number of plants had four, five and even six leaves. IBERS is an internationally recognised research and teaching centre and a world leader in grass and clover breeding and has an active red clover breeding programme that seeks to improve dry matter yield and resistance to pests and diseases. Abisko is a small village in northern Sweden, 200km north of the Arctic Circle. ...

Researchers at the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University have collaborated with scientists from Dijon, France to try to solve the problem of bad tasting beer. Beer brewers face a tricky problem. The high level of activity in the yeast used to produce beer generates a lot of heat during the brewing process raising the temperature at the bottom of brewing vats. Unfortunately, yeast often suffers damage to their structure at these high temperatures, and this damage gives the beer a bad taste. Their research paper has been published in the journal Environmental Microbiology - ‘Surviving the heat: Heterogeneity of response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides insight into thermal damage to the membrane.’ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1462-2920.12866/abstract . Understanding why some yeast cells survive high temperatures when others perish is key to improving processes such as brewing and with over 20 million pints of beer consume...

Scientists at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) are bringing together chemists, biologists and parasitologists from Welsh universities and companies based in Wales to build and lead a new consortium for parasite drug discovery and research within Wales. The scientific term for parasitic worms is helminths and drugs capable of destroying or eliminating parasitic worms are known as anthelmintics. Professor of Parasitology Peter Brophy from IBERS said, “Parasitic worms (helminth) have devastating impacts on human health, animal welfare and food production, with climate change spreading worm diseases to new regions. “The control of parasitic worms of livestock is not sustainable in the absence of vaccines, increasing anthelmintic (drug) resistance and few alternative drugs. “Parasitic helminths are a major threat to global food security and food borne human disease. Better diagnostics, vaccination strategies and new anthelmintic co...

The work of a computer scientist at Aberystwyth University has helped capture images of Greenland glaciers for the purpose of building digital elevation maps and gathering glaciology data for research. Dr Neal Snooke, a lecturer at the Department of Computer Science, has been working on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, commonly known as drones, for the past three years. In June, six new UAVs were sent to Greenland fully equipped with Sony Alpha 14 megapixel cameras to capture high quality photographic data of Store and Lille glacier, which flows into the sea off Greenland. Dr Snooke explains, “The mission was a great success. We were able to capture thousands of high quality digital images that can be processed to produce high resolution 3D models of the glacier. The images showed and monitored the movement and calving of the glacier on a frequent basis. “The idea came in the spring of 2013 when talking to Professor Alun Hubbard from the Department of Geography and Earth Sc...

Scientists at Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), are working with partners at Rothamsted Research North Wyke in Devon to develop new grasses that enable grassland soils to capture increased volumes of rainfall, thereby reducing the risk of flooding downstream. The five-year £2.5 million LINK project named SUREROOT is funded by the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council), and match-funded by a range of industrial partners from across the food production spectrum, including a seed company, a major retailer and the meat, poultry and dairy industry. Large areas of the UK are facing continued and widespread threats from flooding that damage UK homes, and are causing the UK economy and agricultural production significant losses (e.g. an estimated £600m in 2012). Many of our river catchments are upland grasslands predominating in the wettest areas of the UK. If the rates of surface run-off could be reduced and r...

Two of the best funnymen in Wales have reacted to the latest scientific study which claims that comedians have personality types linked with psychosis. A study by Oxford University researchers suggests comedians score highly on characteristics that in extreme cases are associated with mental illness. Unusually, they have high levels of both introversion and extroversion. The research team says the creative elements needed for humour are similar to traits seen in people with psychosis. Ammanford-based comedian Phil Evans, above gave his reaction - “Never underestimate the working comedian. “It takes talent, commitment and a burning desire to stand in front of a room full of strangers, night after night. “The need to win over the crowd is very powerful and often takes great skill. Having said that, why would you feel the need to do it in the first place? “Some of the world’s most famous people had drive, determination and skills to move crowds and achieve great things. Talent put to...

Welsh scientists are working on a project to understand the processes that lead to ice mass acceleration. The glaciologists will be drilling holes up to 1km deep into the Greenland Ice Sheet. The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing ice mass at an increasing pace which at present is around 200 cubic km per year, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.6 mm per year and according to the latest International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, most likely to render sea levels higher by 50cm within our century. This is a worrying prospect given the recent flood and storm damage in the UK. Research shows that in some places, the world's glaciers are melting up to 100 times faster than any time during the last 350 years, which will have significant implications for the future. Academics at Aberystwyth University have been awarded £340,000 to research into the processes that drive the fast flow of these glaciers because a growing body of evidence points to a strong response to both oceanog...

Wales has some of the most scientifically important and diverse habitats for grassland fungi in the world according to researchers at Aberystwyth University. Writing in the latest edition of the journal Mycosphere, an international team led by Dr Gareth Griffith from IBERS (Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences) also reports the discovery of a new species of mushroom previously unknown to science, and another 13 species that had not been previously recorded in Britain. Mushroom-forming fungi are generally associated with woodland habitats but the grassy meadows and hills of north-western Europe are home to around 400 species, with intriguing names such as waxcaps, fairy clubs and earth tongues. However, increased intensification of agriculture over the past 75 years has meant that most of the low nutrient grasslands required by these fungi have been destroyed through ploughing and land improvement. Dr Griffith and his team recorded the presence and abunda...

Scientists from Aberystwyth University are part of a project which will measure how the expedition team of ‘The Coldest Journey’, the world’s first ever attempt to cross the Antarctic in winter, respond to months of complete darkness in temperatures reaching minus 70 degrees C.  Dr Arwyn Edwards, Dr Luis Mur and PhD student Simon Cameron from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) join an international consortium of 20 institutions in the White Mars Project. The project is led by King’s College London and coordinated by the European Space Agency’s Dr Alex Kumar. The White Mars project will use the similarities that exist between the conditions humans encounter on a winter Antarctic expedition and those found in space. The expedition team will be isolated for a year, with long periods of complete darkness, extreme cold and altitude stress. Sir Ranulph Fiennes’s recent evacuation from the expedition illustrates the unforgiving nature of thi...

Materials physicists at the Institute of Mathematics and Physics (IMAPS) at Aberystwyth University have discovered a new method for producing graphene, a material with amazing optical and electrical properties. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms bonded together in a similar way to graphite. However, it has very different and superior material properties. Experiments have shown that graphene is one of the strongest known materials and one of the best conductors of heat and electricity. It is also almost transparent to visible light. Professor Andrew Evans, Director of IMAPS, who headed up the research team said: “Graphene is many hundreds of times stronger than today’s construction materials and much faster and lighter than electronic materials such as silicon. It is a more sensitive gas detector than any currently available, being able to sense single molecules and it could replace conducting glass in displays and solar cells. “Graphene will be to the 21st century what plastic ...

Increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 and Ultra violet radiation may provide unexpected benefits to wild berry species according to a study in the Swedish sub-arctic conducted by scientists at Aberystwyth University. Such berries are an important food harvest for the people of Northern Europe during late summer and autumn. They also represent a vital source of nutrition to birds at high latitudes. In findings from a 20 year experiment just published in the journal Ambio, the team discovered that when plants were exposed to a combination of enhanced UV and elevated CO2, the antioxidant content of bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus) increased, together with the quantities of berries produced. UV radiation also increased levels of seed fertility. Enhanced levels of UV remain an environmental concern at high latitudes since the discovery of the ozone ‘hole’ in 1985. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 continue to rise contributing to future climate warming. However, this study suggests pot...

Scientists at Aberystwyth University have discovered solar tornados several times as wide as the Earth on the face of the sun. Dr Xing Li and Dr Huw Morgan from the Institute of Mathematics and Physics are presenting a movie of one of the tornadoes at the National Astronomy Meeting 2012 in Manchester today, Thursday 29th March 2012. The solar tornado was discovered using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) satellite. “This is perhaps the first time that such a huge solar tornado is filmed by an imager. Previously much smaller solar tornadoes were found my SOHO satellite. But they were not filmed,” says Dr. Xing Li, of Aberystwyth University. Dr. Huw Morgan, co-discover of the solar tornado, adds, “This unique and spectacular tornado must play a role in triggering global solar storms.” The AIA saw superheated gases as hot as 50 000 – 2 000 000 Kelvin sucked from the root of a dense structure called prominence, and spiral ...